WILMINGTON — Remember the days when Adam McQuaid was “Adam McQuaid?” The defenseman has done some big things this season, proving himself a reliable enough blueliner to makeMark Stuart a healthy scratch for eight straight games and eventually expendable in a trade.

Newly acquired Bruins forwardRich Peverley put on a Bruins sweater for the first time Sunday as he practiced with his teammates at Ristuccia Arena. After the skate, he reflected on the trade.

“It was a bit of a surprise, but [Thrashers coach] Craig Ramsey told me this was a team that has a chance to win,” Peverley said. “It’s a big thrill to be a part of a really historic organization and come into a team that has a chance to go pretty far in the playoffs.”

Coach Claude Julien said after practice that he will try the 28-year-old at wing on a line centered by Chris Kelly with Michael Ryder on the other wing. Peverley said he is more comfortable at center, but that he has no problem playing anywhere.

“That’s for the coach to decide. I could play either or,” Peverley said. “I’ve been playing center most of my career. I can play the wing, it’s not a problem. I played it in Nashville and Atlanta. Wherever he wants me to fit in, I’ll try to do that. There’s a lot of good offensive players here with tremendous talent, so I’m just going to try to work and create some chemistry with somebody.”

Peverley had 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points with Atlanta prior to the trade. With the way he spoke of his season to this point, he figures to hold higher hopes for his days in Boston.

“I was OK,” he said. “To be honest, it was kind of an up and down year. I wasn’t too pleased with my overall production on both ends of the rink. I was kind of hoping that the team would do a little bit better, but I’ve moved on and I’m glad to be here now.

“You always want to get better. You never want to cap yourself or put a ceiling [on your production]. I want to get better, and I’m looking at this as an opportunity to get better. Hopefully I can build on past years.”

Peverley wore No. 47 in Atlanta, but will wear No. 49 with the Bruins. He said he did not approach Steven Kampfer about the rookie potentially giving him his number.

“I’m not going to try to steal any numbers from anybody,” Peverley said. “I’m the new guy coming in. I just want to fit in.”

WILMINGTON — Tomas Kaberleisn’t in town, but those packing the stands at Ristuccia in Wilmington get to see Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley for the first time. While that’s all fine and dandy, the real question of how these lines will shake out remains unanswered. Rather than wearing their traditional color-coded practice sweaters to indicate lines, the B’s wore black and white uniforms for a skate that included a scrimmage.

Unfortunately the scrimmage was of 4-on-4 variety, so the lines for the B’s with Peverley in the mix remain unknown. Check back for more following practice.

Great stuff from Brian Burke‘s presser on Friday. The Maple Leafs general manager went out of his way to clear up what he called “misinformation” this week surrounding the dealings between he and Tomas Kaberle‘s camp. Here’s what he had to say (video below):

“The player did not want to leave. I want to be clear on that. He asked for an extension several times, and I didn’t feel we were in a position to meet what I thought his demands would be. I said to him, ‘You’ve got to work with us to get something if you want to, and if not we’ll go from there.’

“He came back and he said that he would like us to start with the Boston Bruins. I said, ‘OK, that makes sense. We’ll try to get [Kaberle] there, but we’re not accepting a one team list from any agent or any player. We set our price, which was a first-round pick and a prospect off our list, not their list. I said, ‘If Boston meets that, we’ll make the deal, and if they don’t, we want two more teams. And if we [can’t make it work with those teams], we want two more teams after that.'”

Here’s Burke talking about his team’s chances of still making the playoffs, and why he didn’t feel it was worth keeping Kaberle if it meant they’d be a No. 8 seed and get their rears kicked in the first round. It’s clearly not something he wants to talk about at length, as the second video shows.

Marlborough native and former University of New Hampshire Wildcat Bobby Butler provided the Senators with their first tally, beatingTuukka Raskat 2:50 of the second period for his third goal in three games. Butler’s strike opened the game’s scoring, but Marchand’s goal fromTyler Seguinand Ference pulled the B’s even. After Horton gave them the lead at 9:47 of the third, the B’s never looked back. Alexei Kovalev scored for the Senators with 1:30 remaining in the game.

Rask made 32 saves in the game, improving to 7-11-1 on the season.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

– Almost unbelievably, Rask has won back-to-back games for the first time all season. The 23-year-old netminder hasn’t really gotten many opportunities to string together much success, but with Claude Julien clearly willing to give him more starts down the stretch, Rask’s performances Thursday and Friday are good for both the confidence of the Finland native and the B’s.

– Friday was about a couple of veterans making their Bruins debuts, but it was the rookies who once again came up big for the B’s. Seguin took a pass from Ference to set up Marchand’s 17th goal of the year, and considering how he’s played the last two nights, it will be hard for the Bruins to scratch the second overall pick when the team returns to action Tuesday in Calgary. With Marchand’s two tallies, he now has 18 on the season.

– On a night in which it appeared Horton may be regressing back to the point where he was back to slumping, the 25-year-old came up big. He entered the night with just one point over his last four games, but he fired a beautiful wrester past Robin Lehner off a nice pass from Krejci at 9:47 of the third. He also drew a holding penalty on holding penalty on Erik Karlsson in the second period, though he went off for holding Milan Michalek at 11:38 of the third.

– The team showed how their power play will be able to operate with Tomas Kaberle, as the newcomer helped orchestrate Seidenberg’s goal. On the night, the B’s power play went 1-for-5.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

– The Bruins came out in the first period like a team that had spent the day selling off assets, and not gaining them. They played with very little energy in the first, getting outshot 12-5. Rask came up big throughout the period, which is the silver lining in a surprisingly flat start by the Bruins.

The Bruins did pick it up after their sluggish period, grabbing a 13-8 advantage in shots in the second period and sustaining that increased energy through the third.

– Johnny Boychuk was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. With Kaberle now in the fold, Boychuk could be the guy that is a regular healthy scratch, with Adam McQuaid and Steven Kampfer also candidates.

Courtesy of the Bruins, here is the transcript of new Bruins defenseman Tomas Kaberle‘s comments to Bruins.com writer John Bishop:

On his reaction to the deal…

It was one of those things, I found out after practice today. My reaction was mixed feelings.
Obviously, you know here 13 years and playing for the Leafs. It’s sad to leave but at the same
time happy to go to Boston. Original Six, it’s a really good team, good organization. Hopefully I
have a chance to play in the playoffs.

On how he would describe himself as a player’¦

Yeah, I think so, offensive-minded, puck mover, skate and pass mentality, just try to keep it
simple. Hopefully I’ll help out the power play and offensive guys on the team.

Yeah obviously like I said, in the past, especially the last couple years, there was a lot of talk
about moving out from Toronto. Boston always come up in the media and stuff. I was kind of
glad about Boston because of the history and stuff like that. It’s such an honor to join and spend
time with a new challenge for me.

It was actually unbelievable. Mark texted me first, congratulating me on the trade, he was happy
about it, and wishing good luck and hopefully I can make it tonight, and anytime I need
something I can call him or text him, and he would be more than helpful to show me around, and
help me out in Boston.

On his impression of the Bruins’¦

Obviously a tough team to play against. Start with the goalies, you know they’re always tough to
beat. Seems like a good defensive team and at the same time they’ve got a lot of scoring, like
guys up front, which is great. I’m looking forward to it.

On how he can help the Bruins in all three zones’¦

I’m just going to try to fit to the team first. Today’s a busy day, with traveling, and the game.
Like I said, a lot of mixed feelings, excitement at the same time. Hopefully we’ll have to keep it
simple tonight. Obviously the first couple practices are gonna tell more about the system and
everything. Hopefully I’ll jump right into it and fit well.

On waiving his no-trade clause’¦

Like I said, I was always thinking Boston would be nice to play for. Honestly growing up, it was
my team because Raymond Bourque was playing for the team. I always looked up to him, he
was like my hero when I was a kid. Now I get the chance to play for the team, so it’s kind of
special, and you know, last year, there were a few teams on the list. This year we kind of decided
to try and keep it away from media and stuff. Hopefully the Boston fit-in could be good for both
sides. For me and Boston as well.

On his impression of the city of Boston’¦

I think it’s a great sports city, and hockey city. Because you know New England, Boston Red
Sox and Boston Bruins. I know I always liked the fans and inside the stadium they’ve been loud
and always when we played them, it was such a good atmosphere

In addition to landing the big fish in Tomas Kaberle Friday, the Bruins made a move that both cleared salary and improved their 2010-11 roster by sending Blake Wheelerand Mark Stuart to the Thrashers in exchange for forward Rich Peverley and defenseman Boris Valabik. While Valabik doesn’t figure to have an immediate impact on the NHL club, Peverley could play a significant role for the Bruins down the stretch.

THE SKINNY

Age: 28

Draft: Undrafted

Contractual status: Has one more year remaining on his deal after this season at a very reasonable $1.325 million cap hit.

Peter Chiarelli noted Friday that Peverley’s 161 shots this season would be second on the Bruins. What he didn’t note is that Peverley has as many goals this season (14) as Nathan Horton. Experienced at both center and wing, he figures to fit into the mix as a third-line winger, though that complicates the rest of the bottom six.

It will be interesting to see what this means forTyler Seguin and the entire dynamic of the bottom six forwards. Chiarelli said Friday that he sees the team keeping the fourth line intact, but it’s hard to imagine Seguin sitting much if he continues to play the way he did Thursday.

The B’s might be better off sittingDaniel Paille‘ who has played very well this month but missed four games with a suspension ‘ and playing a guy like Chris Kelly on the fourth line. Chiarelli reiterated Friday that the team traded for Kelly to replace Marc Savard, but right now there are simply too many bodies to make sense of it all.

WHY THEY MADE THE DEAL

At face value, this appears to be a smart move for the Bruins for both this season and next season. Wheeler, who carries a $2.2 million cap hit, will be a restricted free agent at season’s end. Given that Peverley, who has out-produced Wheeler this season, will definitely be around for another season at nearly $900,000 saves the team money as they look into potentially re-upping Kaberle. The money saved between Wheeler and Peverley obviously won’t be the ultimate difference in whether they have the space to retain their new blueliner, but it helps.

HE SAID

‘I just, I like to use my speed. That’s probably my number one asset, my speed and my quickness. I do like to shoot the puck a lot and make plays offensively. I’ve really been working on my faceoffs these past two years, learned a lot in Nashville when I was there from a lot of guys. It’s a big thing, I take a lot of pride in it being a really faceoff guy. I know there are some guys there who are already really good at faceoffs so hopefully I can help out in that category also.’

CHIARELLI SAID

‘Adding Chris Kelly was a lot in part to replace Marc Savard. Obviously he’s not the same player as Marc Savard, but he’s a two-way player that can help out down the middle. And Peverley was to maintain speed and skill and to get better shooting. We scored more goals this year but I still think we can improve our shooting. And he’s got a real good shot and he will help us improve that.’